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Long ago, before younger readers were born and older readers will easily remember, two men made history: Martin Bell and Richard Taylor.
John Major (prime minister from 1990-97) promised honesty and decency in politics but his government got caught up in a run of scandals and skullduggery. MPs and ministers had affairs, took cash for asking questions in parliament, accepted undeclared gifts from loaded foreign governments, lied.
In 1997, Bell, an intrepid BBC foreign correspondent, stood as an independent, anti-sleaze candidate in Tatton and won. Taylor, a hospital doctor in Kidderminster, who died last month, stood as an independent because he opposed the downgrading of the local hospital by Labour and the health authority. He won in 2001 and 2005.
I met Bell and Taylor, both dogged, ethical men who were in the game not for egotistical reasons, but to protect public interests. They disrupted the status-quo, essentially a duopoly.
In March, I wrote this in a column: “What if our Commons had, say, 50 candidates unattached to the major parties? Come with me through the thought experiment… Independents cannot be whipped and bullied into voting for government policies or opposition positions… Independents would also challenge the dirty tricks that are used to obstruct debates or push through legislation… Traditionalists on all sides will find this modest proposal quite mad or extremely alarming. I say, it is the only way to save this fast rotting democracy.”
Incredible result
You can imagine how joyously I reacted to the election results. The Tories were ousted; Labour won. Better than that, six independents, nine SNP MPs, 72 Lib Dems, four Plaid Cymru MPs, four Greens, and yes, sigh, five Reform MPs are now on the benches.
Among the indies is Jeremy Corbyn, who won a huge majority in spite of being besmirched by Keir Starmer’s Labour. Corbyn was a poor leader with bad judgement, but those who wanted him out branded him – unfairly – an antisemite and he ended up in the political wilderness. His constituents knew him best and they gave their honest verdict. He is now free to speak as he wishes without fear of Labour’s controllers.
In Northern Ireland, Alex Easton also got an emphatic majority. He had left the DUP, he says, “to do my work the right way, to speak freely and make my own decisions”. We need more such unclubbable politicians. Shockat Adam replaced Labour’s Starmerite Jon Ashworth; Ayoub Khan beat longstanding Muslim MP Khalid Mahmood, in my view, a D-list politician; and in Dewsbury and Batley, Iqbal Mohamed roundly defeated Labour’s Heather Iqbal.
These Muslim men tapped into the way millions of Brits are feeling about the betrayal of Palestinians by mainstream politicians. Their presence has breached the established, unconditional support in our Parliament for Israel.
Dangerous rubbish
Inevitably, pro-Israel voices are busily denouncing these victories. Stephen Pollard, columnist for The Jewish Chronicle, ominously branded the results “sectarian voting”. The Daily Telegraph claims “an insurgent force”, based on “religious and ethnic interests”, is infecting British politics. These detractors cannot accept that supporters of Palestinians come from every class, religious and ethnic group, including Jewish people. Furthermore, bloc ethnic votes have been harvested by Labour forever.
Others who can’t accept the result accuse Muslims of not integrating. Dangerous rubbish. Shockat Adam is an optometrist; Ayoub Khan is a barrister. They participated in the democratic process.
Writing in Middle East Eye, Khadijah Elshayyal, research fellow at the University of Edinburgh, poses other key questions: “What is the value in a democracy whose self-proclaimed vanguard begins to panic at the sight of an ‘uppity’ Muslim electorate proactively organising to engage in issues they are passionate about?” Other voters who backed “outsiders” and small parties were doing the same.
On profoundly important matters such as poverty, climate change, immigration and housing, the independents, Lib Dems, Greens, Plaid Cymru and SNP could form an effective alliance. The duopoly does not care for them, but real democrats know these upstarts are safeguarding our rights and concerns, too often marginalised by the majority parties.
Moving forward
Not showing off here, but sharing something rather unexpected, amazing really, that happened recently. I posted this tweet: “Just realised the dreadful Michael Fabricant lost his seat. A hateful man who once tweeted that he would punch me in the throat to silence me. Gone too, Liam Fox, another Tory ghoul. Relishing these bits slowly”. By Wednesday afternoon, 232,000 people had viewed this and the number was going up. Eleven thousand users liked it, 55 quoted it and 1,133 reposted it.
Many disclosed their own pet moments when a Tory they particularly detested lost her/his seat. Thérèse Coffey came top in this unscientific list. The depth and breadth of citizen discontent was revealing. Social media, too often, is a divisive force. But this time it has brought together invisible friends who are singing in unison: “Go now, go! Walk out the door! Don’t turn around now, you’re not welcome anymore…”
A conversation I had this week
Dianne Abbott has won her seat, and restored her good name. We Black and Asian activists have been chatting elatedly about her guts and resurrection. This feisty 70 year old who battles for equality and civil rights has often found herself on the wrong side of the establishment, because she speaks as she finds and doesn’t obfuscate.
She was dragged through the mud after she wrote a letter to The Observer. The missive was poorly worded but I believe it was justified. Abbott pointed out that different minorities in the UK experience different levels and kinds of racism. Deny it if you will, but the truth is out there.
One example: Black men experience racist violence most often from state operators. Whilst Asians endure verbal abuse and hidden discrimination and Jewish Britons experience visceral antisemitism, there are fewer instances of false imprisonment, deaths in custody or during arrest.
Abbott was frozen out by the Labour leadership for months. During this time, a leaked recording showed a Tory donor saying watching Abbott made him want “to hate all black women”. Starmer insincerely commiserated but still kept her out. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle didn’t call her during the Commons debate about the funder’s racism. She stood up 40 times and was ignored. Over those months, she looked so down and defeated we were acutely worried. Look at her now, the Mother of Parliament.
Yasmin’s pick
The Turkish Detective, another unmissable BBC offering. This one starts – as too many thrillers do – with the murder of a beautiful, young woman. I almost switched channels, but was held by the sights and sounds of bustling, gorgeous Istanbul. I am now gripped. Its surprising and edgy, yet likeable, main characters, sharp script and mix of English and Turkish make it unlike anything I have watched before. Catch it if you can.
This is In Conversation with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a subscriber-only newsletter from i. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week, you can sign up here.